I confess to being a nervous and some might say irritating football fan. I blame it on the fact that I’m a mother because all I want is for everyone to have fun and not get hurt. So basically, the same mindset I used for cheering on my kids back in their kindergarten soccer days is how I watch football.
For hardcore college football fans (my husband) this can be problematic. My desire for each team to have a “good game” is not what he wants to hear especially when he’s watching his beloved University of Texas Longhorns.
My whole “good game” ethos came to a head last month when U.T. played K.U. These are the kind of games I love because I enjoying cheering on both Texas and Kansas. In my mind there’s not a loser because while my husband went to U.T. my son is a K.U. alumnus. So it’s just a day of “Yeah football!”
I also had a secret I wasn’t sharing with anyone. I was clandestinely rooting for K.U. I can’t help myself. I love an underdog and while in full confession mode the fact that my husband has yet to get over K.U. beating Texas in overtime back in 2016 is something I find hilarious. I’m not kidding if I want to irritate him I just mention the game.
This latest match up started out with U.T. quickly scoring but Kansas was plucky and they looked good. My husband though was not in the best of spirits when U.T. was only up by a couple of points at the half.
His mood was so dismal I had to retrieve the lucky U.T. pom poms and commemorative Darrell Royal football. I also perkily suggested that I could sage the house to cleanse out the negative energy. This earned me a look that would have scared most people but it just spurred me on.
Since I didn’t have any sage I got the pumpkin spice broom I had recently bought at Trader Joe’s and started waving it all over the family room giving extra special attention to the television. I would share what he told me I could do with the pumpkin broom but it’s not suitable for print.
As the game progressed things got worse. Texas barely pulled out a win. One would think this would make a UT fan happy but for my husband the score was a tragedy and worse a “harbinger of what the rest of the season held.”
In an effort to make up for the pumpkin spice broom performance I dedicated myself to becoming more educated about Longhorn football. This is where I went down the rabbit hole known as Burnt Orange Nation.
Not only could I not stop reading but I became obsessed with the comment section. Someone who goes by the name “Sir Horns A lot” is now my spirit animal. “Sir Horns” explained the season in such a way that way I felt like I was partaking in a master class on Texas Football.
The comment section also embolden me. Yes, I signed up and started commenting – a lot.
Currently, I’m enjoying weighing in on such topics as team endurance, defensive strategy and recruiting where UT could take a lesson from KU’s Les Miles who with a lot less resources (i.e. not coaching at a huge university that is currently spending $175 million for a “stadium update”) has put together a strong team.
See, didn’t I sound like I knew what I was talking about? I think I’ve graduated from football fan to insightful comment section analyst who may or may not be going by the name “Pumpkin Broom.”
Snarky in the Suburbs 